Slide feed



A. E. BORTON Aprii 2, 1946.

SLIDE FEED 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 me. mfi o m. W

h mi \l i i Filed Sept. 29, 1944 April 2, 1946. A. E. BORTON SLIDE FEEDFiled Sept. 29, 1944 2 Sheets Sheet 2 v INVENTOR. flzn r/v E ia/fra/v BY8 2 a 7'7'0Q6MFY Patented Apr. 2 1946' I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE2,397,833 SLIDE FEED Alwyn E. Borton, South Orange, N. J., assignor toAssociated Patentees, Inc., Ampere, N. -J., a corporation of New JerseyApplication September 29, 1944, Serial No. 556,453

7 Claims.

The invention here disclosed relates to slide feeds of the type coveredin United States Patents 1,883,513 of October 18, 1932, and 1,959,853

I out of line with the line of feed of the stock.

Other objects are to improve the grip of the feed mechanism on thestock, and particularly to enable the gripping and accurate feeding oftwo or more strips of stock at the same time.

Further objects are to facilitate the initial feeding in and setting ofthe stock and to accurately check the stock against retrograde movementat the end of the feed stroke.

Other desirable objects and the novel features by Which the purposes ofthe invention are attained will appear or are set forth in the course ofthe following specification.

The drawings accompanying and forming part of the specificationillustrate a present practical embodiment of the invention but structuremay be modified and changed as regards this disclosure, all within thetrue intent and broad scope of the invention as hereinafter defined andclaimed.

Fig. 1 in the drawings is a broken and part sectional side elevation ofone of the slide feeds as applied to and operating in conjunction with amachine on the order of a punch press;

Fig. 2 is a broken end view of the feeding in and check rollers asviewed from the left in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a part sectional view of the check clutch, ason substantiallythe plane of line 33 of Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical and horizontal sectional views, respectively,as on substantially the planes of lines 4-4 and 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 6 and 7 are plan views, respectively, of a two-strip and athree-strip feed pad for gripping the stock.

In the present disclosure the invention is illustrated as applied to apunch press, and for that purpose is shown as having a base It) adaptedto be bolted or otherwise secured over the bolster or bed plate ll ofthe press. The cam shaft l2 of the machine is shown as carrying a crankdisc l3 provided with an adjustable ball crank M for the upper end ofthe adjustable operating link l5.

The slide proper is indicated at IS in the form of a block mounted toSlide on guide rods l1 and having pivoted on it at l8 the upright stockgripping lever I9. The latter is rocked between adjustable front andback stops 20, 2 l, and carries on'its forward face the adjustable pinchblock 22.

To assure firm gripping engagement with the strip or other stock 23, ayielding gripping pad 24 is shown interposed between the lower end ofthe rocking lever and the back or bottom 25 forming the stationary jawpart of the slide.

This pad is tensioned upwardly toward the lower end of the lever l9 andis pressed downwardly into gripping engagement with the stock on theforward rocking movement of the lever by the pinch block 22 forming themovable jaw element of the combination. For such spring tensioningpurposes the pad may be made of a single piece of spring metal having anangled mounting portion 26 at one end-removably secured to the slideblock at 21, this mounting portion being connected with the main body ofthe pad by a reduced or thinned yielding neck portion 28.

Gripping engagement with the stock is improved by cross grooving theface of the pad, as indicated at 29, to break up the surface into aseries of flat ridges 30, and by longitudinally grooving or slotting thepad as at 3|, Figs. 6 and 7, to divide the pad into two or morelongitudinal fingers 32.

The separation of the pad into a series of longitudinally extendingfingers is of advantage where two or more strips of stock are to be fed,for then each of such fingers may be utilized to independently grip onesuch strip of material.

In Fig. 6 a pad is shown divided longitudinally to provide feedingfingers for two strips of SLOCk, and Fig. '7 shows such a pad divided toindependently engage and feed three strips of stock.

The jaw lever I9 is shown as oscillated by a rock lever 33 and link 34,from an overhead rock shaft 35, as in Patent 1,959,853 above referredto, but in the present disclosure this rock shaft, instead of beingdirectly actuated from the crank or connecting rod I5, is operated froma double ended rock lever 36 pivoted at 31 on the base it] below and inline with rock shaft 35. One end of the rock lever 36 has a universalpivotal connection 38 with the lower end of crank rod l5 and theopposite end of said lever is connected by pivot link 39 with the rocklever 40 on the end of shaft 35.

This linkage arrangement provides for a crank or connecting rod lengthsuificicnt for operation in cases, such as shown, where such mechanismnecessarily is considerably offset from but is relatively close to theprimary operating shaft, The same or substantially the same feed unitwith the walking beam form of rocker 38 mounted on the base can thus beadapted to various forms of punches and other machines which require thefeed mechanism to be located at the side or at the front, or some otherspecial position.

Cooperating upper and lower rolls are shown at 4|, 42, at the enteringend of the unit, the upper roll in vertically adjustable bearings 43 andengaged by yoke 44 adjustably tensioned by spring 45 and handcrank 46engaged on the screw stud 41. The lower roll is shown provided with aprojecting squared shaft end 48 for engagement b a hand crank forturning in the direction to initially advance the stock into position inthe feed slide mechanism.

To enable these rolls to serve as a check for the advanced stock, theshaft of the lower hand crank roll is shown as carrying a triangularfixed cam 49 turning in a circular chamber 50 and engaged by clutchrolls tensioned by springs 52 to lock against reverse motion but topermit free movement in the feeding in direction.

The guide rods i1 are preferably carried by the base l0. Also, the rockshaft 35 is journalled in the head portion of the base structure and therocker for actuating the same is mounted on the bottom portion oi thebase. This unit structure gives the feed mechanism the characteristicsof an attachment which may be applied as such to difierent machines, andthe location of the actuating rocker and its provision with a universaljoint operating connection enables the attachment to be connected upwith the difierent machines in various difierent necessary relations.

The crank pin I4 is usually adjustable for determining the desired feedstroke and the posi tion of the clamp block 22 can be adjusted at 53 tosuit the thickness of material gripped by the pressure pad. The latter,by reason of the separate transversely grooved fingers, firmly grips thestock whether it be in one, two or more separate strips. A spring suchas'indicated at 54,

1 Fig. 1, may be disposed back of the oscillating jaw lever 19 to rockit in the jaw closing direction, to assist in proper timing by taking upslack that may be present in the operating connections. The irreversiblefeed in rolls hold the stock in advanced position and may eliminate theneed for the drag ordinarily used on the slide block.

What is claimed is:

1. A slide feed attachment for punch presses and the like comprising abase attachable as a unit to a punch press or other machine, guide rodscarried by said base, a slide block operating on said guide rods, a rockshaft journalled on said base above said slide block, a double endedrocker pivoted on said base at one side and below said rock shaft andpivotally connected at one end with said rock shaft, and a universalpivotal connection at the opposite end of said rocker for engagement byone end of an operating crank rod.

2. A slide feed. comprising a slide block having a fixed jaw member anda companion movable jaw member and a pressure pad interposed betweensaid fixed and movable jaw members, tensioned toward said movable Jawmember and separated into stock gripping fingers extendinglongitudinally of the stock feed movement, and the gripping surface ofsaid fingers being broken up in transversely separated sections.

3. A slide feed comprising a slide block having a fixed jaw portion, apressure pad overlying said fixed jaw portion and having longitudinallyand transversely separated gripping segments and a rock lever forpressing said pressure pad into cooperativ relation with said fixed jawportion and including a pinch block and means for efiecting adjustmentof said pinch block in respect to said pressure pad.

4. A slide feed'comprising a slide block having a stock supporting Jawportion, a pressure pad overlying said jaw portion and having anattaching portion at one end by which the same is mounted on the slideblock, said pressure pad having a flexible connection with saidattaching portion and whereby said pressure pad may be pressed intoengagement with the stock to be fed and a lever pivoted on the slideblock over said pressure pad and having a pinching engagement with thesame.

5. A slide feed comprising a, slide block having a fixed jaw portion, amovable jaw lever pivoted on said slide block, a clamping jaw elementadjustably mounted on said lever for stock gripping coaction with saidfixed jaw portion, means for rocking said lever in opposite direction,and a spring acting on said lever in the ,jaw closing direction. I

6. A slide feed comprising a slide block provided with stock grippingmeans, companion pressure rolls for advancing the stock into the bite ofsaid stock gripping means, and an overrunning clutch associated with oneof said feed rolls and faced to permit feeding in rotation of said rollin one direction and to prevent rotation of the same in the oppositedirection, and including a cam having fiat faces, asurrounding,substantially cylindrical, stationary chamber, wedge rolls interposedbetween the fiat faces of said cam and the surrounding wall of thechamber and spring means thrusting said rolls in the wedging directionon rotation of the feed roll in the direction opposite that for thefeeding in of the stock. 7

7. A slide feed comprising a slide block having a fixed jaw portion, arocking jaw member mounted on said slide block over said fixed jawportion and a stock gripping pressure pad interposed between saidrocking jaw and fixed jaw portion, said pressure pad being of springmaterial and having a rigid mounting portion at one end, rigidlyattached to the slide block,

